Question:
Do animals, namely pet dogs, go to heaven?
Answer:
No. Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 says, “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and ALL TURN TO DUST AGAIN. Who knoweth THE SPIRIT OF MAN THAT GOETH UPWARD, and THE SPIRIT OF THE BEAST THAT GOETH DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH?”
The bodies of both man and animals return to the dust when they die. But the spirit of man must face God (the Christian, immediately upon death — II Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”) (the lost person, at the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20:11-15, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
But the “spirit” of an animal ceases when the physical body dies. “THE SPIRIT OF THE BEAST THAT GOETH DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH.”
So sorry, no pet dogs in heaven. If you want to get attached to an animal, you better make it a horse! Revelation 19:14 says, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon WHITE HORSES, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”